The field of this invention is seismic exploration.
With known seismic exploration methods, seismic sources were used to impart into the earth seismic energy waves which propagated through the earth in spherical or near-spherical wavefronts. Reflections of the spherical waves were detected at one or more seismic detectors, and the detected signals were recorded. The recorded signals which contained information concerning the geological substrata explored were subsequently processed in an effort to make that information more discernible. There were, however, several problems associated with the use of spherical waves and the signal processing techniques.